“WHAT are you talking about? No one ever has any feedback about my snaps or drop punts…”

Harry McKay has definitely heard it all before.

But as long as it continues working for him, he’s going to keep backing in his now-trademark left foot snap whenever and wherever possible.

After three seasons of over 20 goals, it’s been an emphatic year for McKay, who leads the Coleman Medal after 16 rounds with 46 goals to his name.

While questions continue to be asked about his technique, McKay - speaking to SEN Breakfast - said it was a case of backing in what he feels most comfortable doing.

It may take a bit more time for the traditionalists to get used to it, but McKay said the technique is here to stay.

“It’s simply just a comfort and confidence thing,” McKay said.

“When I snap the ball, it’s got a lot more room to come back: you put it out there and the ball always comes back. I’m just really comfortable kicking the ball from that side.

“I know optically that it’s not great for a few of the elder statesmen around the league, but I think it’s something to get used to.

“If you look at the stats where blokes kick around the corner, we hardly miss. Apart from the odd one that comes off the belly of the ball, they’re pretty accurate.”

Those numbers certainly do back him up in McKay’s individual case.

In the columns next to that 46 goals, the stats sheet also says that he’s had 28 behinds and five attempts where he has failed to score (79 scoring shots in total).

Of those 79, he has utilised the snap from a set shot on 23 occasions, 17 of which have travelled through the big sticks. It means he’s running at just under 74 per cent in front of goal: nearly a 16 per cent increase on his total average.

Quizzed by Sam Edmund and David King on whether there was a set criteria - whether it was distance or angle - when he adopts it, McKay said it depended on the situation.

“There’s no set distance,” he said.

“When you’re under the roof at Marvel in the warm-up, I could hit them from just about 50. But later on in the game when under fatigue, the distance might come back a bit.

“Anywhere from 40 and back I’m pretty comfortable. If it’s early on in the game and you get a good ball, 45 [metres or so].

“It’s something that tinkers from game to game.”

McKay’s goalkicking stats

Total: 79 scoring shots
46 goals, 28 behinds, five failed to score
Accuracy: 58.2 per cent

Snaps from set shots: 23 scoring shots
17 goals, three behinds, three failed to score
Accuracy: 73.9 per cent